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      Friday, September 16, 2016


otherstuff
06:20 PM - 09/16/2016

The topic: Remember way back when,

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All the way back to Monday? When there was a problem with the electrical in the office?  And once Brian got that fixed, he tackled the living room without any luck?

The living room electrical problem started when we got the Spinalator. Plugged it in, started it up and the breaker blew. We tried a different outlet and it worked. But five outlets and one light didn't. Over the years since, every once in a while he tries to fix it. Never had any luck. Tuesday, we (I) did some research and watched videos on wiring. Everything was coming up with a loose neutral, but we couldn't find it. We didn't even know all of the outlets on that breaker.

But even though I actually did some research on Tuesday, the outlets are still dead. I learned that on an outlet, the gold screws are where you connect the black (live) wire. On the outlet, the short slot is the live slot. The silver screws are where the white (neutral) wires connect. The long slot on the face of the outlet is the neutral. Brian examined all of the dead outlets and every one of them was wired correctly. 

Since these outlets quit working, I ran a heavy duty exension cord to the one outlet that worked, on the other side of the room. Just one light on the extension cord, over by the litterbox. I also had a power strip for the other lights and the sewing machine in that same outlet. They all worked. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Yesterday, the new Cameo 3 showed up. It came UPS and UPS usually runs late in our area. Not a problem, I'd been up early that day to score a Fukobukuro (that's where Botti came from, a Fukobukuro) and didn't want to get started on settng the new machine up so late in the day. I could do that today.

I opened the box this afternoon and got everything plugged in, got it registered with Silhouette, got the software that runs the Silhouette Design Studio updated and then did the firmware download, then got that installed. We should be good to go. I did some test vinyl and learned a few things, surprising to me, but not a really big deal. I used a blade holder that I'd gotten on eBay, just to see if they worked (they do). Then it was time to start the rearranging of the stuff.

Because of space, I had decided that I would move Botti from under my work table to under the sewing machine in the living room. First thing was to pull everything out from the wall.

When I saw the outlet, I just shook my head. This is the outlet that worked, right? It was in really bad shape. I walked into the office, where Brian was working on quotes.

"I think I found where the loose neutral is."

He said he'd check it out and get the outlet switched out. It hadn't been changed since we moved in here over thirty years ago. Might as well do them all, right?

I pulled everything as much out of his way as I could, then wiped down the wall with vinegar water and wiped the floor.  I got a lot of fuzz on my cloth. Yeah, it was bad behind that end table.

He came into the room, looked at the outlet and was amazed at how bad it was. He went outside and shut off the circuit breaker, and after clipping and stripping the wires that had been so badly corroded, changed out the outlet  ("it's this outlet," he said, "the wires are just falling out") and turned the power back on and EVERYTHING WORKS!!!!  No loose neutrals! The patio light outside of the office door works! 

So, the week ended on a great note. No more worrying about a loose wire in the wall starting a fire! I have more plugs! Now I won't need extension cords to run the floor cleaner. Botti is running right now and things are good.

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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